Russian car sales fall for 8th straight month in October

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Russian new-car sales fell for an eighth straight month in October, down 8 percent year-on-year to 234,481, the Moscow-based Association of European Businesses said, adding that it saw no signs of an imminent improvement.

"General sales trend remains weak on a rather consistent level – neither do we see signs for improvement, nor for further deterioration. As we are approaching the year end, it becomes clearer that the long-awaited market stabilization is unlikely to happen before the end of 2013,'' Joerg Schreiber, chairman of the AEB's Automotive Manufacturers Committee, said in a statement.

Lada remained the best-selling brand in the market last month, but sales tumbled 25 percent to 37,484 as foreign brands made inroads into a market that analysts predict will soon overtake Germany to become the biggest in Europe.

Renault, which along with alliance partner Nissan is seeking to take control of Lada's parent company AvtoVAZ, continued to increase sales in the market. Renault is the best-selling foreign brand in Russia and the No. 2 brand after Lada, with sales of 18,413 last month, a rise of 9 percent.

Deliveries of the automaker's Duster compact SUV doubled last month, making the Duster the fourth best-selling model in the market in October and in the first ten months.

Kia and Hyundai were the third and fourth best-selling marques in October. Kia sales rose 5 percent to 17,609, while Hyundai deliveries jumped 8 percent to 15,834.

General Motors Chevrolet brand remained the No. 5 seller in Russia last month, but sales plummeted 22 percent to 14,576. By comparison, deliveries at sister brand Opel were flat at 6,581. Last month, GM announced plans to integrate Russian operations into its Europe business as it seeks to boost Opel sales in Russia, the brand's third biggest European market. GM's business in Russia is currently run by GM International Operations based in Shanghai.

Volkswagen brand sales dropped 11 percent last month to 12,625 units.

Sales of premium German brands rose last month led by Mercedes-Benz, which jumped 15 percent to 4,157. Audi sales rose 6 percent to 3,115, while BMW sales were up 4 percent to 4,052.

New-car sales have been falling as Russia's $2 trillion economy has faltered, causing the AEB to recently cut its sales forecast for the full year to 2.8 million vehicles, a decrease of 5 percent.

In the first ten months, sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia fell 7 percent to 2.28 million.